The destiny of the juveniles Egyptian Vultures tagged with satelite transmitters

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The Egyptian vultures are passionate travellers! One of the activities in our LIFE+ project „The Return of the Neophron“  financed by European commission and the „A.G.Leventis“ foundation is the the satellite tracking. Here we will share some information about 10 marked juveniles of this rare and beautiful species.

Ibrahim was hatched in the Eastern Rhodopes this summer and he started his migration about 3 months after that. On the 6-th of September, he headed to South. The next day he crossed the Dardanelles, but suddenly changed his way to the Mediterranean islands and leaved more safes road to the heart of Turkey. On the 14th of September he reached Crete where two weeks was trying to find his way.

Sanie was hatched close to Madjarovo, Bulgaria. Her migration began on the 18th of September. The same day she crossed the Dardanelles, then (exactly like  Ibrahim) visited Lesvos island, but then cаme back and followed  the Turkish seaside till Syria and then to South again. After 11 days of travelling Sanie flies above Nile and mighty Sahara desert.

The young Asparuh started his migration on the 3th of September. He flied 30 km to visit another another young Egyptian vulture in South Bulgaria. Early the next morning moved to South and spent one day in Maris bay close to Dardanelles. Then changed his direction and headed west crossing whole Greece to Peloponnese. On the 9th of September he managed to cross 320 km from the sea and not more than 150 km left to the North African coast, but probably he was confused by the night. We assume that he landed on a ship, stayed there for 3 days and then  we lost his signal.

Katerina is from Dadia National Park, Greece. She was raised with her older brother Paskalis. Her first migration began on 13th of September. For two days she crossed the Dardanelles and followed the Greek islands aiming Karpathos island in the afternoon on the 17th September. Then she flied 325 km to South above the sea before nightfall. Probably she landed on a ship for three days and then we lost her signal.

Paskalis migration began four days before Katerina heading straight to south and he reached Crete. On the morning of the 14th, he began crossing the sea. Twelve hours and 400 km later he reached Egypt coast. On the next day, without any hesitation he began crossing a new obstacle – Sahara. After three days and 1000 km Niger was his home till the 25th of September when reached the lake of Chad where he is in this moment.

Hercules was hatched in Meteora, Western Greece. His epic migration started on the 6th of September heading directly to south. Three days later he reached Mediterranean sea close to Peloponnese. The 9th September he began his epic flight over the sea, but even named after the greatest ancient hero, his powers were not enough.The next four days he tried to recover, but the exhaustion and hunger were too strong. The last signal from his transmitter was on the 14th of September.

Berenis started first her migration – on the 30th of August.  She passed through capital Athena and on 4th of September she alighted to Antikithyra island. After a night in the island she tried to reach Libya. After 150 km her strength is over and she probably landed on a ship where stayed four days. Her last signal was on the 9th of September.

Ilin and Ilina are brother and sister from Macedonia. They both left the nest, but stayed in the territory around. On the 8 of September the signal of Ilin‘s transmitter disappeared. After Metodia Velevski (the Macedonian Ecological Society) investigation the most probable reason is that the bird was killed by a predator. Elina‘s migration  began on the 18th of September going to east. On the 21th she crossed the Dardanelles and reached territories west from Antalya. After several days of chaotic movements she took the wrong way and moved west to Rhodes island. We still receive her signal from there. We hope she will find her way and will be safe.

Redcliff is from Albania. He is the first Egyptian vulture tagged with transmitter in that country. His migration started on the 14th of September heading straight to Athens. Following this direction he reached Peloponnese and on 21th tried to cross the see.  His last signal was on the next day.

In conclusion from 10 juveniles we have only 4 alive. Asparuh, Elin, Katerina, Redcliff, Berenis and Hercules died before they had their first birthday. We suspect that the same destiny has Ibrahim. The high mortality of the juveniles is one of the threats for the species.

To be continued..